Food influencer Allie Tong has spoken out after a heated street confrontation outside a San Francisco coffee shop exploded across social media.
Tong, a content creator focused on food and recipes, was filming outside Wrecking Ball Coffee on Tuesday afternoon with her assistant when an older man began muttering insults at them. According to Tong, the man directed his anger at her assistant, saying “you guys are so f—king stupid.” Tong walked back to confront him and asked what he had said. He repeated the insult even after Tong explained that she and her assistant were supporting a small local business.
The assistant began filming the couple because the man “was being verbally abusive,” Tong said. At the start of the video, the camera shows a man and woman drinking their coffee nearby. The woman suddenly lunged toward the assistant, appearing to try to knock the camera away.
“Don’t touch me!” “What’s wrong with you?” the two can be heard exchanging.
The woman then started marching toward the assistant, who began walking backward while holding a coffee. “I was just filming because he was making us feel uncomfortable,” the assistant can be heard trying to explain to the furious woman. “Get off of me,” the assistant said repeatedly.
“Take that recording and delete it,” the woman demanded.
Later in the clip, the woman can be seen holding the assistant’s sunglasses as the couple appeared to leave. The man uttered another insult while walking past. “You want this?” the angry woman taunted before leaving with the glasses. “Call the police. Let’s call the police right now.”
In a Wednesday update posted to her Instagram account, Tong said the assistant did get her sunglasses back because the woman eventually threw them on the ground.
Wrecking Ball Coffee moved quickly to ban the couple from the establishment. “Wrecking Ball has always been committed to providing a safe, friendly and welcoming environment for everyone and we take that responsibility very seriously,” co-owner Joey Cannata told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The San Francisco Police Department confirmed to the Chronicle that a police report was filed but no arrest has been made. The couple has not been publicly identified.
The clip has racked up tens of thousands of views since Tong posted it online this week, sparking widespread discussion about the incident.
Tong’s Instagram account, @allie.eats, where she shares food and recipe content, became the central platform for the video’s spread and her subsequent updates about the aftermath.